Autumn Tie Front Apron

I started making this style of apron last winter and even thought I sold them in the Etsy shop, in the frenzy that is Christmas season I never got around to doing a post on them. The original tutorial calls for one fat-quarter and 1/2 of a yard of the contrasting fabrics but since the apron is so simple and the fabric is what make its great, I started just using two half yards of fabrics to make mine. That way I wasn’t limited to the fat quarters selection (which wasn’t much in the way of seasonal prints) and I also had some of the main apron fabric left over for other projects! I LOVE these aprons, they are really simple (they take a while the first time you make them, but after that it’s a breeze) and they are a super thoughtful hostess gift for Thanksgiving! I always love the vintage patterned fabrics so this fall fox and cherry print jumped out at me at the store and I think the wood grain fabric compliments it so well. The cool part about learning how to make these is that by switching up the fabrics, they are perfect for all year round!

As I mentioned before, for this project you’re going to need one fat quarter of fabric (18″x21″) for the main panel of the apron and 1/2 yard of contrasting fabric in a 44″ width for the bottom border, the waistband and the ties. If you’re like me and would rather pick a regular fabric for the main panel, you’ll cut out a 18″ x 21″ piece yourself – in this case it’s an 18″ tall and 21″ wide rectangle in case you have a print that needs to go a certain way like mine did.

1. Start by getting together the pieces for the bottom border, the waistband and the ties in your contrasting fabric. Snip a short line along the selvages and rip them off both sides. Lay down your ruler along the short side and make small snips at 6″ and 12″.

2. Rip your fabric along the snips you made so you’re left with three 6″ x 44″ strips and iron them flat. You could mark these and cut along the whole strips but it is so much faster to do it this way and it has no effect on the finished product!

3. Lay your 18″ x 21″ panel right side up (again, the 21″ part is the top and bottom and the 18″ is the sides, if you’re using a fat quarter, remove the selvages) and then lay one of the contrasting strips right side down on top of the bottom of the main panel. Using a ruler mark a line and cut the strip so it’s the same length as the main panel’s bottom. Set the extra from that contrasting strip aside for the waistband.

4. Iron the strip you just cut in half lengthwise wrong sides facing.

5. With raw edges matching (line up the unfolded part of the strip you just ironed with the cut 21″ bottom of the main panel) pin the ironed strip to the main panel of the apron and sew using a 3/8″ seam allowance.

6. Press the seam up towards the main panel and then topstitch the seam in place to give it a nice, finished look.

1. To finish the side seams of the apron with a double fold seam, press 1/4″ under and then press that 1/4″ under and sew along the edge of your fold.

2. Take the short piece of contrasting fabric left from the bottom border, and sew the long strips of the contrasting fabric to either side of it (along the shirt ends) and then press open the seams so you have one long strip of the remaining contrasting fabric.

3. Making sure the waistband is centered, lay the main panel on top of the waistband (right sides facing) and stitch together only along the main panel.

4. Press the seam up towards the waistband, press 1/4″ under at the top of the waistband (only where the waistband and the main panel meet) and then press the waistband and ties in half lengthwise (right sides facing) as shown. The stitched rectangle in the middle of my waistband is my clothing label, if you want to add one, do it now.

5. Starting where the main panel ends, sew along the length of both ties (leaving the center waistband part open), sewing at an angle once you get 2″ from the ends.

6. Use a turning tool to flip the ties right side out through the opening in the waistband and press everything flat. Use a zig zag stitch to close the opening in the waistband and enjoy your apron!